PHOTOS: Fast Food Strikes Go National As Workers Walk Out In 58 Cities

Fast food worker strikes have bubbled up in several cities over the past nine months as workers began demanding livable wages and the right to organize unions. Thursday those walkouts escalated, with strikes hitting fast food restaurants and other low-wage service industry employers in 58 cities from coast to coast and on either side of the Mason-Dixon line. The effort brings a higher profile to the campaign to end poverty wages — the federal minimum wage currently has less actual buying power than it did 30 years ago, thanks to inflation — but it also endangers workers who might face retribution.

Here are 10 inspiring photos from the day of fast food strikes around the country:

Workers shut down a fast food store in St. Louis. (via @greenhousenyt)